Video – Meet Paige Elliot Phoenix – Australia's Transgendered 2011 X-Factor Contestant

It seems that 2011 is the year for reality shows to welcome female to male transgendered contestants.

Last week it was announced that sex reassigned Chaz Bono would be competing on Dancing with the Stars, and now Australia is following suit.

Meet Paige Elliot Phoenix.

Paige is a 35-year-old female to male transgendered human that auditioned for the Australian version of the “X Factor”.

The video kind of blew us away because we didn’t even see it coming until he told the judges about his “situation”.

Paige says,

“My decision to live as a man has been the best decision ever for me. Living as a female was really hard and painful. The transition I have been through has completely enabled me to become the person I am today. I had a voice before but I never felt fully authentic - it wasn’t me. I never could have auditioned for X Factor as a woman.”

The setup includes him having a video chat with his girlfriend, and the voice, muscles, looks and tattoos made us think he was a man from the beginning of the piece.

Watch Paige Elliot Phoenix on Australia X Factor


The judges seemed fine with his voice, tone, looks, and professionalism and voted him through to the next round.

Australia in general seems to be taking the entire thing in stride and seems to think it’s no big deal.

So what’s the problem with the United States?

Chaz Bono

When Chaz Bono announced last week she was participating in DWTS the haters came out of the woodwork saying that families would be harmed, advertisers should be boycotted, and all life as we know it would probably end if Chaz was allowed to compete as a man.

She ultimately had to go on national TV to defend herself to the world.

Related: Chaz Bono to appear on DWTS – Video
Related: Chaz Bono speaks out about DWTS - Video

It seems as progressive as we think we are in the United States there are certain issues we just can’t seem to conquer.

It’s sad really.

Asia, on the other hand, not only accepts the matter but embraces it and has built an entire culture around sex reassignment.

Last year Bell Nuntita tried out for their version of “Thailand’s Got Talent” and was embraced by the nation.

Related: Thailand’s Got Talent - Transgender Contestant Shocks Judges – Video Goes Viral

It seems that the issue is KNOWING a person is transgendered more than the fact the he or she is.

If Paige Phoenix would not have told anybody and competed, and maybe won, as a man – nobody would have said a thing.

Page Elliot Phoenix

If we didn’t KNOW that Chaz Bono used to be a female we wouldn’t care about her on “Dancing with the Stars.”

But because we KNOW his history it becomes a problem.

Maybe 2011 will be the year that the World learns that people are people and love is love.

Hate is not wanted or deserved, and until you walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes you have no right to judge anybody - or open your mouth.

He who is without sin may cast the first stone in our comment section below.

That’s what I thought.

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We get it.

Justin Bieber Brings Bully Victim Casey Heynes on Stage During Concert – Video

Being bullied himself is something Justin Bieber has talked about before.

In fact last week he was pelted with eggs at one of his shows.

And last year he had a run in with a bully during a paint ball outing where the police were called.

Bieber says he was also bullied in school because he was good at sports and his classmates hated him for it.

But last night during his concert in Melbourne Australia, Bieber brought bully victim Casey Heynes on stage to thank him for standing up to his aggressor and for showing courage during the press fiasco that followed.

For those of you who don’t remember Casey, he became an overnight celebrity last month when a YouTube video surfaced of him body slamming his young attacker to the ground.

When we first heard that Bieber was going to have Heynes on stage we thought it was a nice gesture. But we had no idea of the effort the singer’s management team and Channel 9 put into the making it all happen.

The following video is an interview with Channel 9 Network’s “Current Affair” where both Casey and Bieber are interviewed by Ben McCormack.

It’s amazing to see a young celebrity focus so much attention on a subject when he could just as easily do his show and move on to the next city – injured back and all.

Watch Justin Bieber and Casey Heynes Interview and stage appearance


We suspect that this is why Bieber has become such an inspiration to teenagers around the world. Here is a kid who is not afraid to hang out his own dirty laundry in an effort to change the global perspective on issues.

After all, at one point or another we have all been bullied and decided to look the other way. I can only imagine what I would have done as a teenager if I had a stadium of 20,000 screaming fans as a platform to air my problems.

Maybe this kid really is smarter then we adults give him credit for.

Way to go Justin – this is why they love you.

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Justin Bieber Injures Back Wakeboarding in Bali – Remaining Tour Dates In Question.

Seems like Justin Bieber did more than put on a great show in the rain in Bali last week.

While out on a boat with friends and fellow tour member Alfredo Flores, Bieber injured his back wake-boarding.

Bieber took to twitter saying,

“Crazy 24 hours of travel...back is messed up....but we are smiling. We finally made it. AUSTRALIA we are here. Brisbane Leggo!”

After his show he posted,

“back is in ALOT of pain but incredible show tonight. BRISBANE was #BEAST - Australia is about to be a party the next 2 weeks”

Bieber is in Australia finishing the last five shows on his My World Tour.

After Justin saw a back specialist, the doctor insisted that the teen sensation cancel his Brisbane concert. Bieber did not agree and performed anyway. He is next due to perform Thursday, April 28 in Sydney.

A back specialist told us,

“The type of injury from wakeboarding needs rest to heal. If he performs he runs the risk of exacerbating the condition and making it worse. If it gets better he should be alright, but if it gets worse than he may have no choice but to cancel to prevent permanent damage.”

Fortunately, Bieber only has a couple of more shows before he is back in the United States for a little relief from his touring schedule.

After returning to Atlanta, Bieber plans to start work on his third album expected for release in late fall.

Putting Things Into Perspective

It's easy to get the feeling that we live and work in some kind of parallel universe considering that:

1. it is beautiful about 325 days of the year in Southern California
2.  our office is located on one of the nicest commercial streets in the US
3.  we work with wonderful people and with a product that is intrinsically beautiful
4.  most importantly, our clients are awesome

In our world the biggest disappointment that can occur in our daily working life is finding out that our product is not going to be worn by an A-list star on the cover of a major international fashion magazine. 
While PR and branding are very important to building our business, we accept that these things happen. 
It's a process and we plod along and hope for another opportunity.

Today, we have another sunny day with mild temperatures and clear blue skies.
The fresh faced beauty and daughter of Sissy Spacek , Schuyler Fisk, is wearing bangle bracelets from Beladora.com in this month's issue of Vanity Fair.
We are pleased.

It would be easy to forget that on the other side of the world this is going on.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But we haven't forgotten. 
We have clients in Australia and we are worried about them, indeed about all of the people in flooded areas.
Hopefully the waters will recede soon.

Aussies are undeniably resilient people.
They will deal with this once in a lifetime natural disaster far better than we dealt with the Hurricane Katrina flooding.  But the worst isn't over yet and there will be months if not years of clearing debris and rebuilding.
We wish them potable water, electricity, available food and godspeed to get through this trial by water.

Of Biblical Proportions

Things are bad in Australia, really bad.
A flooded area the size of the state of Texas bad.
People have died, others are lost.
Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared to what's going on in Australia now.
Our favorite Aussi blogger FF has been caught up in it in Brisbane
and fingers and toes, she and the future baby FF will be fine.
Go send her your best wishes...while she still has the electricity for her computer.